Kai Xi Mein
Labels: one dish meals, she cooks
Thursday, October 19, 2006
I had 2.5l worth of good chicken stock from yesterday's Chicken Rice and took some of it to stew mushroom sauce for Kai Xi Mein,(Cantonese for Shredded Chicken Noodles). Again, I didn't follow any recipe, relying instead on memory and some taste forensics. Over my relatively short kitchen stint, I've learnt to pinpoint the main ingredients that go into a dish. As such, I can also mentally taste how different ingredients combine together. Very handy when I feel like experimenting.
I don't know if my method is the 'right' way but the end result is of hawker centre standard. Anyway, what you need to do is soak 6-8 big Chinese mushrooms in warm water to soften. Once soft, slice them to own preference. Do not throw away the mushroom brine, in a moment you'll see why. In the meantime, heat up 2.5 cups of chicken stock. When boiling, add in 1/4 cup of light soya sauce, followed by 2-3 tbsp of dark soya sauce. Throw in sliced mushrooms and next, add salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Let it simmer for 10 minutes and do a taste test. Add more light soya sauce if needed. If at anytime you weren't shy with the seasonings and the sauce becomes too salty, dilute it with the mushroom brine saved from earlier on. *ahhh, light bulb moment* On the other hand, you can also just add spoonfuls of the brine to give it an extra mushroom kick. When you've fine tuned the taste, cover the pot and for the next hour, let the sauce simmer away slowly like a woman scorned and plotting revenge.
Unless you're using the entire contents (which serves 3-4 helpings), spoon out what you need in a separate saucepan. When it's boiling, pour in a mixture of cornflour and water (ratio 1:3 respectively) to thicken. Pour sauce over blanched egg noodles, vegetables and shredded chicken. Only thicken the sauce with conflour prior to consumption. I find that the sauce keeps better in the fridge that way. I don't know why but it does. Hey, I'm a self taught cook, not a kitchen scientist!
Enjoy!
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 3:03 pm
: October 19, 2006 9:21 pm
Ur gai xi mein, is my favourite too! The stew mushrooms looks really good, and the way u describe it is supberb! Well done! :)
Edith: Thanks! :D
Grace: Hi! Thanks for dropping by and your kind compliments. Yes, the pic on my sidebar are from Getty Images while the Campbell Soup one was googled up.
I dropped by your blog and left a comment but encountered some problems. Hope it gets through. If it doesn't, I wanted to say that you have a lovely blog too and that your tau suan looks yummy. By coincidence, I'm making that next week too. :P
